Operation: Date
by Harikou
Summary: [[ONESHOT]] Naruto has a master plan to get Sakura to go on a date with him. ... But is it really all that well thought out? NaruSaku, very very slight semi SasuSaku, and possibly a little fluffy.


A/N: Yay! My first story in...Um.. A really long time. xD I wanted to write a Naruto story, and I just randomly thought of this while brainstorming. Only after I wrote it did I realize that it's similar to the beginning of the series! I seriously didn't intend it that way. But still... Anyway, I hope you like it!

* * *

Through the bustling streets of Konoha, a young man walked straight forward. He didn't look to either side when beckoned to, just fixated his ocean gaze straight ahead, making a beeline blur of orange, black, and yellow, except for when he had to swerve to avoid oncoming traffic. His name was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was on a mission. 

Well, sort of.

Yes, today was the day. He was going to ask the beautiful Haruno Sakura to marry him. Well. Not _marry him. _Not yet anyway. Yes, today was the day he was going to ask her out on a date. Granted, he had done the same thing multiple times before and been flat out rejected, but this was the lucky umpteenth time. Yes, today was the day he was going to ask Haruno Sakura out on a date, and today was the day she'd say yes. Why, you ask? Ho-_ho_, why not? In Naruto's mind, Sakura was the single luckiest girl in Konoha. She was beautiful, smart, and she was being sought after by the future hokage! … And along with that fact, he had a plan. It was foolproof.

He kept on walking. Nothing was going to divert him from his goal. Now if only he knew exactly _where_ Sakura was… Oh well. Maybe he could go ask Ino. He changed the direction of his straight line towards the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

* * *

"Billboard brow? I dunno, I asked her if she wanted to do something today, and I think she said she was going to train." The blonde girl gave Naruto a plaintive look and toyed with a lock of hair in front of her face. What did this guy want? Couldn't he see she was busy doing nothing? And why did he want to know where forehead girl was? Pfft, either way, she had told him all she knew. Maybe he would go away now. 

"Do you know where?" the blue-eyed boy asked.

Or not.

"Look, I seriously can't remember. I didn't think it was that important at the time. Just go check some of the different training grounds or something," Ino retorted. Couldn't he just leave her be? She hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, and was admittedly more irritable than usual.

"Okay, thanks Ino," Naruto said before leaving. Well that narrowed the places that Sakura was to about… A gazillion. What I do for love, he thought inwardly. He figured he should check the old training grounds that he and the rest of team Kakashi hung out at in their youth. That'd probably be the location she'd choose to train. Ah, nostalgia.

He exited the shop, and looked both ways. Now which way were those training grounds again? Ah, that way. He took off to the left. All those flowers and their perfume had made him dizzy. He shook himself to come to his senses. Deciding that he couldn't really go very fast walking on the street, he jumped up to the rooftops. Leaping off one and to the next, over and over again, proved to be much quicker. Why didn't I think of this in the first place? I always travel this way anyway. Man I am so off today, he mused. Whoops! Almost missed. I should probably save my thinking for when I'm on the ground.

* * *

"HYAH!" Sakura uprooted a tree with ease. Focusing her chakra into one area made things so much easier. Training, training, training. That seemed to be all she ever did these days. She really had nothing else to do, save for some paperwork from Tsunade every now and then. Then again, she didn't really feel like doing anything else. Earlier, Ino had asked her if she wanted to come over to her house, and she had declined to come here and kill trees. 

… Kill trees? Oops… I never really thought about it before. I guess that I sort of murder them when I practice on 'em… Better than a human I guess. She felt almost cruel saying that, but hey, she had to practice on _something_.

She snapped her head to the side. Something was coming. Whether it was a squirrel or a huge monster, she couldn't tell. Either way, she cautiously crept over to one of the wooden training poles in the ground and crouched next to it.

* * *

Ah! There she was! Naruto grinned, concealing himself in the bushes as he watched his pink-haired friend move huge trees as if they were toothpicks. He was so used to it, he guessed, it didn't really faze him at all. Now if it were HIM she was doing that to, maybe. He continued to kneel and peek through the leafy green foliage into the clearing. She was so beautiful, even as she was ripping the life out of innocent plants. He had always thought so. That she was beautiful, that is. 

On his knees, Naruto silently moved closer, watching intently.

SNAP.

His knee landed on a dry twig, causing it to break and sending a sharp sound resounding through the air. Uh oh. He hoped this wouldn't ruin his plan. He hastily retreated backwards into the forest, in case she DID decide to come and use him for practice. He had seen her head instantly face to his direction in one staccato movement. Couldn't risk being caught now. He was too close to putting his plan into action.

He formed a seal with his hands and quietly whispered, "Bunshin no jutsu!"

Phase one initiated.

He hoped he had gotten it right. He didn't really have much to serve him from memory. He had partially guessed on some of it. He just prayed he looked all right and hadn't messed up somewhere. He took a kunai out of his pocket, shined it up a little on his shirt, and examined himself in the dull reflection. Hmmmm… It _looked_ like he did an okay job… Everything seemed to be correct, as far as he could remember. He took a deep breath and continued on with his plan.

* * *

"Sakura! Hey! Sakura!" A figure walked out into the open of the training ground. He had just seen her here a minute ago, had she left while he was turned around? No, wait, he spotted her next to one of the logs protruding unnaturally from the ground. 

She wore a mixed look of confusion, shock, and happiness. But mostly shock. She had to fight hard, but she managed to open her paralyzed mouth to utter a few confused syllables.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-s…. S-S-S-S…."

"?"

"Sasuke-kun?!"

Naruto inwardly grinned. Hehe, he had fooled her. Now for the rest of his plan.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. Wow. He hadn't done a clone of Sasuke or heard Sasuke's actual voice in so long, it sounded weird to have that voice come out.

"Y-you're… Back?" she asked, still dazed and wide-eyed.

"Yes. I found training with Orochimaru any longer to be useless." Damn!, Naruto cursed. Couldn't he think of something more interesting to say?

"Does anyone else know you've returned?"

"No, just you."

"Not even Naruto?" She hadn't moved from her spot. She didn't think she could. She was frozen from shock and doubted she could get up.

"Not even him."

"But why'd you come to me first?" A faint blush could be seen forming across the bridge of her nose.

"Because. You were the last one I saw when I left, so you should be the first I see when I return."

"I see…" She said.

Before she could say anything else, Sasuke/Naruto cut in. "Sakura, I have something important I want you to do."

"What's that, Sasuke-kun?" She held onto the pole she was still next to, as if afraid she would fall over if she let go. What did Sasuke-kun want? And why had he returned so suddenly? And did he really come to her first because of why he said he did?

"Uh," Sasuke stuttered, "I need you to go on a date with.. Um…"

A date! A date? Sakura was again confused, but also overjoyed. He wants me to go on a date with him! Not Ino, not anyone else, but me! Inner Sakura raged triumphantly, but Outer Sakura simply showed glee.

"Naruto."

"W-what?" She said, breaking her exuberant expression.

"I need you go on a date with Naruto," he repeated.

"Um… Why?" She asked. What in the world? Something's definitely up with Sasuke. It was then that she noticed something. Something different about Sasuke. Something that definitely wasn't something he could've changed easily, like clothes or hairstyle.

"Because you need to break the news that I'm back. I can't do it myself.

".. Okay, sure… But… Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked less shocked now and more confused.

"Yes, Sakura-ch-- Sakura?" Whoops. He had almost let himself slip.

"… What's up with those marks on your face? They look like Naruto's."

Sasuke's eyes went wide. "Oh, uh! Um… It's…. National Naruto Day? Didn't you hear the announcement? It's a day to celebrate Naruto. The hokage said so herself." His eyes returned back to normal, and he looked satisfied with himself, taking a stance and an expression that looked a little too proud for Sasuke.

Sakura eyed him awkwardly. Okay, something was weird. She had suspicions, and from what she figured, they were probably true. Sasuke wouldn't just randomly come back. Let alone randomly come back and then celebrate 'National Naruto Day'. She was going to find out exactly what was going on here. If this was Sasuke, he was acting pretty strangely. Besides, she worked with the godaime often, and she would know if Tsunade had said anything about some 'National Naruto Day'. Plus, unless Naruto saved her from getting wrinkles or something, she probably wouldn't announce a day to celebrate him.

"Naruto?" She asked innocently.

"Yes?" He replied.

"Why are you pretending to be Sasuke?"

UH-OH. He had definitely just dug himself into a hole. One that he probably couldn't climb out of. She already knew it was him, so he decided to tell the truth and not hurt himself more. He released the jutsu and appeared in his normal state.

"Well, uh.." He rubbed the back of his head and gave her a sheepish and embarrassed face.

Sakura stood up and walked over to him. Yup, she knew it. Who did he think he was, trying to fool her? She was a master at genjutsu. He should've thought of something more clever to trick her with. But she had to blame herself a little; she was too caught up in Sasuke to notice that his chakra was behaving strangely. And she was so distracted that it took her longer than it should have to notice Naruto's whisker marks. She gave him a look that pretty much summed up her inner feelings and reactions.

"… How did you know?" The blonde-haired boy asked wholeheartedly. "Besides the whisker marks, I mean."

She put a hand on his arm and raised an eyebrow. " 'National Naruto Day'? Come on." She smiled.

"Now that I think about it, that _does_ sound pretty stupid." He focused his gaze on the ground.

Sakura smiled again. "Aw, don't say that." She made him lift his head back up and stared into his face. "There'll be a National Naruto Day when you become hokage. Don't worry about it."

He smiled back. Oh how he loved his Sakura-chan. "Yeah. You're right."

The pink-haired girl grabbed onto his sleeve and began to drag him into the direction of town.

"Wha? Where are we going?" Naruto asked.

She stopped and turned around to make a face at him. Her expression made him feel as if he had said something stupid. "Ichiraku. You've got a date with me, remember?"

His face changed from beaten to surprised, then to jubilant. His eyes lit up. "Really? But… You're not mad at me?"

"Yes really. I said I would, didn't I? And yeah, of course I'm a little mad at you. Don't toy with a girl's emotions like that again, okay?" She playfully hit his arm with the hand she had on it. "But, I figured, hey. You did all that for me? So why not?"

Naruto looked at her as if she had just said that she had a second head. Then again, not that that was particularly uncommon. Look at Sakon/Ukon. He stepped forward a bit and grabbed her hand, smiling.

"But you're paying of course." She grinned.

* * *

A/N: Hope it was funny and or semi-fluffy enough for you. Sorry that it has a little teensy bit of SasuSaku in there. Don't get me wrong, I don't like SasuSaku, but I had to put it in there! Besides, it's really Naruto anyway. So it's essentially NaruSaku. 

Sorry if everyone was a bit OC... Hey, it's my first Naruto fic, so can you really blame me?

R&R and I'll love you forever:D


End file.
